Rogue Squadron - Serissu's Bodyguard

Welcome to Rogue Squadron, pilot! In this series we will be looking at different squadrons you can fly in Fantasy Flight Games X-Wing miniatures game. We give you the squad, what expansion pack all of the upgrades come from and then give you the low down on how best to fly it. Strap in and get ready to fly…

All Wings Report In

M3-A Scyk “Serissu” (M3-A Syck Expansion) (20 pts) (PS 8)

When another friendly ship at Range 1 is defending, it may reroll 1 defense die

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Firespray-31 “Mandalorian Mercenary” (Scum and Villiany) (40 pts) (PS 5)

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Elite Pilot Talent- Bodyguard (StarViper Expansion): At the start of the Combat phase, you may spend a focus token to choose a friendly ship at Range 1 with higher pilot skill than you. Increase its agility value by 1 until the end of the round.
Crew– Recon Specialist (HWK-290/TIE Phantom Expansions): When you perform a focus action, assign 1 additional focus token to your ship.

2x Kihraxz “Cartel Maruader” (Kihraxz Expansion) (20 pts) (PS 2)

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Lock S-Foils in Attack Position

This is a pretty simple list aimed at making use of two under used cards: Serissu and Bodyguard. First, while Serissu seems useful, giving everyone a rare defensive reroll, she’s pretty pricey and fragile for that. Likewise, Bodyguard has worth in protecting a high value target but costs your focus token (and essentially your action).

But if you combine Bodyguard with Recon Specialist then you will still have one to use yourself. With a crew slot, elite pilot talent, two agility and ten hitpoints the Mandalorian Mercenary makes an excellent bodyguard. The large base also gives him a wider area in which his Bodyguard can be used.

Your goal is to bait your opponent with the two Kihraxz by pushing them upfront, but still within range 1 of Serissu. Then your opponent has to choose between two three die ships that are close and who get a defensive reroll, a heavy ship that’s has lots of health or a ship that now has four agility. Anytime you can make your opponent second guess who to attack, you’ve gained an advantage. An indecisive opponent makes more mistakes.

Variations

I debated what ship would work best as the bodyguard ship. The HWK-290 flown by Palob is much cheaper and has all the necessary upgrade slots. With those extra points you can give Serissu a Stealth Device, Mangler Cannon and Palob can still wield a TLT. Not a bad choice but HWK’s are quite squishy at only five health and their dial sucks. The Firespray can keep up with the other ships’ speed and can K-turn.

Alternatively you could field Bossk in his YV-666. This doesn’t free up any extra points but it does bring his pilot skill up to seven and gives you access to his nice pilot talent. You lose the rear arc but gain a 180 forward arc. You also have a pretty terrible dial like the HWK.

Which of the three is better really comes down to what you’re facing. Turrets are always nice and giving Serissu a three die attack with an auto crit really helps up your firepower. The extra health and pilot skill of Bossk could be useful in dropping ships before they fire. But a generic Firespray with not many upgrades isn’t as appealing of a target as a named pilot or a loaded HWK, increasing the chance your opponent will ignore him. Likewise, Serissu with no upgrades will be ignored longer than a Serissu with a Mangler.